See Also: Cooking Club · Fish and Seafood · Side Dishes
Burmese Steamed Fish (Nga Baung Doke)
From Dorothy McNett's recipes at www.dorothymcnett.com. These are traditionally wrapped in banana leaves and steamed in a bamboo steamer over boiling water. Fresh out of banana leaves? Then try my method.
4 sole or snapper fillets
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
2 small to medium onions
1 tablespoon white rice (uncooked)
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon fresh ginger root (small knob)
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons sesame oil
8-10 large spinach or romaine leaves (or both)
fresh coriander leaves
Cut fish into 8-10 equal sized pieces. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and tumeric and set aside. Slice one onion thinly and set aside. In food processor with steel chopping blade in place, first whirl the rice to chop it up a bit. Then add remaining onion, garlic, ginger, chili powder, coconut milk, salt, tumeric, pepper and sesame oil to make a puree. Pour it over the fish pieces, coating each piece well.
Wash the leaves and wrap in a paper towel. Microwave 30 - 60 seconds to wilt but not to cook them. Spread each leaf out and place a piece of fish along with some of the sauce in the center. Top with a thin slice of onion and a sprig of coriander. Wrap securely, tucking in the sides. You may want to use a toothpick to help hold it together. (the traditional way is to wrap it first in the leaf, and then wrap that in a banana leaf) Arrange the packets on a microwave safe plate. Microwave on high 5-6 minutes. Allow to stand about 10 minutes to cool, and serve. Or, place the wrapped bundles in a steamer basket and steam over boiling water 15-20 minutes. Do not let the water touch the fish, just the steam. A bamboo steaming basket is ideal for this, but a colander or other mesh steamer placed above boiling water in a stock pot can work as well.
Recipe created 2007-08-22.
